A small, sepia photograph of little boys standing in a synagogue, wearing prayer shawls and payos sits behind glass in the first gallery of the Holocaust Museum L.A.
“I feel very lucky to have a photo of my grandfather as part of our core exhibit,” says museum C.E.O. Beth Kean as she points to a smiling boy in the front row on the left.
“It looks like he’s around eight years old,” she says.
Kean’s grandfather survived and told stories about living in fear of death during the Holocaust. One lesson Kean heard over and over from her grandparents was that it could happen again.
So her life’s work has been, in part, about proving them wrong. She says that work is especially salient on International Holocaust Remembrance Day this year, following the October 7th massacre of more than 1,200 and kidnapping of more than 200 in Israel.
“This day is an important reminder,” Kean says, “that the whole world needs to come together now more than ever to stand up and speak out against all forms of hate.